Eni, in defining its long-term position with regard to climate change, has put forward a proposal for a global agreement that was first outlined by chief executive Paolo Scaroni on 22nd September 2009 at the United Nations in New York.

The proposal is based on a "change of pace" to contain the emission of greenhouse gases, that is focused on the combination of the following measures:

1. the introduction of a minimum carbon tax on all productive sectors, which would establish a stable cost for CO2, to influence investment decisions. Clearly, a carbon tax has to be accompanied by measures that compensate the effects on the incomes distribution process. The integration of cap-and-trade systems, in addition to the tax, would guarantee the achievement of mitigation objectives in the most efficient way possible and at the same time allow countries to state their objectives in terms of total emissions.

2. the introduction of a mobile excise tax on energy products deriving from fossil fuels and destined to end users. This should be applied when the price of such products goes below the level that drives investments on R&D and energy efficiency, protecting environmental policies against the instability of oil prices.

Industrialised countries should be the first to adopt these measures, but they must not remain alone in the fight against climate change. Emerging countries should also implement the measures, after a reasonable period of warranty, to be established on the basis of economic development level that would be defined by a shared index. A carbon tariff should also be a part of the scheme, and would be applied only to those countries that failed to respect the agreed time limits.

A new global climate agreement must recognise the centrality of technological innovation: from the development of new production methods and the spread of existing technologies that have not yet been adopted on a large scale to the invention and realisation of totally new products and technologies. This process of transformation will be slow and gradual, and will spread out over an arc of time to be measured in decades, but it must necessarily be rooted in the present. Indeed, it is now that we must leverage the important opportunities we are faced with to begin to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.

The improvement of energy efficiency is for sure the most important area in which action can be taken immediately: it is spread across the entire energy chain, from the process of transforming energy to productive activities and final use. The replacement of high carbon content fuels with cleaner varieties is another key option to immediately contrast the increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Finally, a reduction in deforestation would produce, at a very low cost, considerable benefits in terms of  climate thanks to the positive impact on ecosystems. In the long term more profound changes are necessary, where technological innovation will play a key role thanks to breakthrough solutions. In particular, this is the only way in which renewable energy sources will be able to have a significant impact on the planet's energy mix.